Great Wagon, So-so Debut

Pepsi 400 - Television Review

Nbc's First Broadcast Of The Pepsi 400 Showed It Still Has Some Work To Do.

July 8, 2001|By Jerry Greene, Sentinel Staff Writer

Did you see that NBC "War Wagon?"

Sweet!

I have got to get myself one of those -- but air-conditioned and with a fridge.

Give NBC (WESH-Channel 2) credit for its Wagon, but it did not hitch much of a performance to it. Compared to what we've been seeing for the first half of the NASCAR season from Fox, we won't say NBC dropped the baton but it fumbled around with it for much of Saturday night during the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

Part of the problem was that the race was a bore until the final hour when it had the thrill of a pile-up and the finish everyone wanted -- a thrilling victory for Dale Earnhardt Jr.

This one's for you, Dad.

But back to the three-hour show that had its problems.

Not all the fault belonged to the network. For starters, if you have Britney Spears there, don't get some clown to stumble through the national anthem while she's standing next to him in her impressive Evel Knievel jumpsuit. At least there was no sign of Bob Dole and his dog.

Back to NBC/TNT, who will handle the last 20 weeks of the NASCAR season, and their prime-time debut.

And being a prime-time show was their biggest problem -- an obvious concern about the possibility of drawing a night-time audience with little or no knowledge of stock-car racing. After all, considering the XFL, the network is a little sensitive about the sporting events it airs on Saturday nights.

At first it seemed nice when they explained how air pressure in tires affects a car's performance or even what "the car is loose" means. But then we repeatedly got these primers.

And, as expected, the entire presentation felt far more traditional than the work by Fox. Allen Bestwick was solid at play-by-play and recent driver Wally Dallenbach reacted well -- but nobody expected veteran analyst and former driver Benny Parsons to doze through the telecast.

Hey, Benny, next year take a nap.

Overall, on a four-tire scale, let's give NBC 2 1/2 tires -- and we all know how useful a half-tire is.

TECHNO MAGIC: Personally, I like NBC's three-at-a-time running order on the top of the screen better than Fox's constant streaming list of cars, but others may disagree. NBC tried a gimmick called "Speedtrap," billed as a "real-time" clocking of cars coming out of Turn 4. It seemed pointless, although amusing that NBC would boast about doing anything in "real time." And where was NBC's version of the popular FoxTrax method of identifying cars? Presumably, something went wrong. In addition, the network had camera and sound problems, including the loss of its picture twice.

ONE FOR BENNY: Despite an overall poor performance, Parsons did get it right when he essentially declared Dale Jr. the winner -- with 94 laps left.